


do not stand at my grave and weep

by green_leaves_in_hell



Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon Non-Binary Character, F/F, This is a tragedy, a female blacksmith, a non binary huntress, and a horror story, and their pet wolf, but only at the end, fairytale, includes a baker, the beginning is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:01:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29682966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_leaves_in_hell/pseuds/green_leaves_in_hell
Summary: the lines "do not stand at my grave and weep, i am not there i do not sleep" and "do not stand at my grave and cry, i am not there i did not die" inspired me to write a story about what could have happened if these lines weren't meant to be reassuring but a warning.The villagers of the town next to the woods live a simple but happy life - until a hail storm destroys their harvest. To survive, they have to enter the wood - where people keep dissapearing under mysterious circumstances.
Kudos: 1





	1. Do not stand at my grave and weep, i am not there i do not sleep

_Do not stand at my grave and weep  
I am not there, i do not sleep ___

__We were wed the day after mid summers eve. She was the blacksmiths daughter, and I was the baker. She wore her best dress, and I wore my only pants and shirt that didn´t have burned holes in them. We were barefoot, for we believe, that the day you´re married, you don´t only bind yourself to your partner, but also to the earth.  
The village´s eldest, my grandmother, held the ceremony. She bound our hands together with a black band, symbolising the earth we were standing on. When we kissed, my wife lift me into the air and spun us around.  
Afterwards, we danced, and we sung, and we ate, what every house could spare to donate for the occasion. We weren´t many, but we were a family. It was the happiest day of my life.  
__

____  
We moved into a small house at the edge of the village. It used to be the house of the old huntress, who vanished, years ago. It had a small garden, where we would plant beans and peas and carrots and flowers. I would get up, every morning, before the sun came up, and I would lit a fire and put water on, for my wife to have tea when she would get up. I´d leave the house and walk through town to the bakery, where my mother would already be awake and have lit the fire in the oven. We wouldn´t speak much, but we would start preparing the dough and forming the bread. We didn´t need to speak, for we have done this hundreds of times before.  
By the time the sun would come up, we would put the breads in the oven, and make one small bread for ourselves to have breakfast. In the morning, the people of the village would come to buy bread, and at noon we would close the store to go upstairs, to my parents home, and have lunch. In the afternoon we would open the store again, although not a lot of people came by to buy our goods. But they would come by to gossip, and while we prepared the dough for the next day, we would hear all kind of stories about the major´s daughter who wanted to run away with a traveller she met, or the seamstress who didn´t want to sew a wedding dress for a villager, because she was jealous. When we were done, we would close the store and I´d kiss my mother on the cheek and I´d go home. I´d pass the blacksmith, where my wife and her family worked, and sometimes I´d pretend to be a stranger passing through and flirt with her, and she would throw her head back and laugh and I would be the happiest person in the world.  
Every night, we cooked dinner together, and she read me a book or I would sing her a song, and then we went to bed. It was a simple life we led, but we were happy. It wasn´t an easy life, but we made it work.


	2. You hear the howling winds that blow? I am the monster from below.

_You hear the howling winds that blow?  
I am the monster from below. ___

__Were we too happy? I don’t know. Did we ignore the warning signs? Probably. But when you´re in love, you feel invincible, and like nothing could ever make you stop. We believe that everything must always level out. If you´re sad, you won´t be sad forever. But if you´re really happy, something bad is bound to happen. It sounds harsh, but it´s fair. Everyone get´s about the same amount of happiness and sadness in their life._  
_

  
Of course, you can try to ignore it. Are bad things really happening, if you don’t pay them any attention? At least they won´t influence you that way.  
So we ignored the weird way the huntress vanished. We ignored the travellers that would pass through our village on their way to the mountains, never to be heard of or seen again. We ignored the stories of the new huntress, who sometimes found pieces of dead animals in the forest, not knowing what kind of animal would have killed and then not eaten them.  


One day, we could not ignore it any longer. A few years after we got married, a great hail storm ruined our village´s harvest. Most of the grain was destroyed. That meant two things: We didn’t have enough to survive the winter, and I was out of a job. Because without grain, there isn´t any flour, and without flour, there isn´t any bread. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapters will get longer!


	3. I am the hunter during night, It does not help to leave on the light.

_I am the hunter during night,  
It does not help to leave on the light. ___

__Three days after the hail storm, the major calls a towns meeting. So our entire village meets at the towns square, some having brought chairs, others sitting on the floor. Options are discussed. We could trade with other villages. That idea gets shot down fast, for most other villages around us would also have been affected by the hail storm, and what would we trade them for? We have nothing except for what we produce ourselves. We decide to ration the food we have, but that still wouldn´t bring us through winter. Some people contemplate leaving the village, hoping they´d find a job somewhere else. I look at my wife. She shakes her head. We aren´t leaving. This is our home. We aren´t the only ones desperate to stay. People are now arguing, shouting across the square. The major tries to bring back order, but the people aren´t listening._ _

__A howl, louder than the shouting, fills the square. People gasp. A wolf jumps in the middle of the square. Before people can panic, a cloaked figure appears behind the wolf and pets its giant head. It stops howling and sits down, licking the hand. The figure takes of their hat. It is the new huntress._ _

__“There is another way” they say. their voice was loud and deep. I´ve never spoken much with them, but this was completely contrary to their normal whisper. They looks at the major. “We could hunt.”_ _

__“We already are hunting” the major replies, “it isn´t enough”._ _

__“That´s because I hunt alone.” The huntress turns to the people. “We need more people. We can spread out further, carry more, some people can collect, some people can hunt. If we want to survive, that´s the only way.”_ _

__“Are you crazy?” A voice pops up from among the crowd. The seamstress. “I´m not going into that forest. We all know what happens to people who do.”  
Affirmative murmur from the people. _ _

__“Also, who´s supposed to go?” Another villager raises their voice. “All of us have jobs to do. They are necessary, just as your hunting is, we can´t just stop doing them!”_ _

__The huntress raises their eyebrows. “Really. As far as i´ve noticed, harvest is cancelled. So all of you farmers don’t really have loads to do. I know you´re afraid of the forest. But i´ve been there, often enough, I can show you where it´s save, I can teach you to hunt, I can tell you which berries to collect.” They inhale. “I like this as much as you do, but we don´t have another choice. So. Who´s with me?”_ _

__I stare at the villagers. At the start, no one raises a hand, but then, slowly, surely, about ten people raise their hands. I only realise I´m one of them, when my wife shakes me._ _

__“Are you crazy?” Her eyes are wide. “You can´t go into that forest. It´s too dangerous!”_ _

__I take her hand. “It´s too dangerous not to go,” I say. Before she can reply, the huntress takes the word again._ _

__“Then it´s decided. Tomorrow, at dawn, meet me at the edge of the forest. Bring your knives” They turn around and leave, their wolf – dog following behind them._ _

__\------------_ _

__My wife grabs my hand hard, and pushes through the crowd. She pulls me into the bakery, the door falls closed behind us. It´s quiet in here, the voices of the crowd locked out._ _

__“What the hell were you thinking?” She pushes me against the counter._ _

__“I know you´re scared,” I say, “I am too. But it´s true what she says. If we don´t go hunting, we won´t survive the winter. I am out of a job, I don´t have anything valuable to do, and I don´t want you to starve!”_ _

__The desperation must be visible on my face, because my wife takes my head into her hands and leans her forehead against mine._ _

__“I know you hate not being useful, and I know you hate sitting around and doing nothing. But I´m still so scared for you. The forest … we don´t know what´s in there. And I don´t want you to risk your life for me.”_ _

__I laugh and put my hand over hers. “I´m not only risking my life for you, stupid. I´m also risking it for me. And your siblings. And all the kids and people in the village. And to be honest, I don´t think I´m risking my life that much. The huntress goes into the forest every day, and she has always come back. I promise,” I grip her hand tighter and look her into the eyes, “I will always come back to you.”_ _

__She sighs. “Alright.” She smiles, and then she kisses me. Her lips part mine, and her hands grip my hair. My hands wander down her back, lower, before she pulls back: “Not in the bakery, you twat!” She nudges me with her head and I laugh. “Fine. It´s not like we´ll be baking and more bread here,” I reply, “but the major might complain if the entire village can see us through the windows.” I grab her hand and pull her behind me, as we rush home._ _

__The next day, I wake up at the same time as usual, but I don´t have to get up yet. So I cuddle up to my wife, inhaling her sweet scent while she sleeps. It´s quiet outside, the morning birds haven´t started singing yet. While I lie there, her back to my chest, I imagine what we will find in the forest. All those stories the huntress used to tell about dead animals ripped to pieces come to my mind. Will I find something like that? What even can do that? And even more importantly, will what did that, find me, like it found the old huntress? Suddenly, the quiet outside isn´t comforting anymore. I look to the window, but from where I lie, I can only see the night sky. I can´t lie still anymore anyways, so I get up, careful not to wake my wife. She murmurs something when I move away, my warm body being replaced with a gist of cold air. I pull the covers over her naked shoulder. She looks beautiful, peaceful. It´s a sight I get every day, yet I can never get enough. I pull my eyes away from her and to the window. It´s still dark, but in the light of the low moon and the stars I can see our garden, then the fence around the village, the great meadow, and behind that, looming, the forest. What awaits us there? I´ll find out, whether I want it or not._ _


	4. Like a shadow in the dark, your dogs are too afraid to bark.

_Like a shadow in the dark,  
Your dogs are too afraid to bark. ___

__I am the first one at the forest, except for the huntress. They smile._ _

__“I should have known the baker would be the first one to show up.” They put their hand on their dog, who growls at me. “Sh. She´s with us now.”_ _

__I nervously come closer, suspiciously eyeing the dog. Its head is bigger than mine, and its back the height of my hip. That thing could probably rip me to shreds in seconds._ _

__“Relax,” says the huntress. “She is here to protect us. She won´t hurt you.” The ‘not unless I tell her’ hangs in the air. I decide to change the topic._ _

__“So how many people will come?”_ _

__The huntress shrugs. “Depends on how many were put off by the idea after a good nights sleep. Yesterday, it was about 15 people that volunteered. I´d say if ten come, we´re lucky.” They give me a strange look. “To be honest, I didn´t think you´d show up.”_ _

__I raise my eyebrows. “Really.”_ _

__They look back at the village. “You just seem like you´d have too much too lose.”_ _

__And the slight feeling of comfort that their presence had offered near the forest was gone._ _

__I put my chin out. “If we starve, I´ll lose her too.”_ _

__“But at least you´ll die together,” they say._ _

__I step from one foot to another. “I thought you said nothing will happen to us if we all stay together.” The slight accusation is my voice can´t drown out the fear._ _

__“I did,” they say, then points at the village. “Looks like the others are coming, finally.”_ _

__We wait for them in silence._ _

__

__In the end, we´re eleven people, excluding the huntress. They makes us row up, our backs to the forest. Is this a test? To see who turns at the first weird noise?  
They stand in front of us like a general, their hands behind their back. _ _

__“When we go into the forest,” they say, “there are a few rules that you need to follow. Those rules,” they look every one of us into the eye, “exist, to keep you alive. And by extend, the village. I suggest you follow them.” They make a break. “Rule number one: Leave the forest before sundown. Do not, under any circumstances, be in that forest, at night. Understood?”_ _

__Affirmative murmur from the row of villagers. A voice pops up: “Does that mean the forest is safe during day?” a girl at the end of the row asks._ _

__“I don´t know,” the huntress answers, which takes us back. “I don´t know. But I find the cadavers of the dead animals in the morning, usually, so I think that whatever kills them, does so during the night. That doesn’t mean it can´t also hunt during the day, but at least I´ve never had an encounter, and I always leave before sundown. Rule number two: When we´re in the forest, you do what I say-“ discontent murmur from some people in the row, but a growl of the dog makes them shut up. “You do what I say, no questions asked. This is not because I like commanding people, believe me, I don´t. But I have the most experience in the forest, and I know what´s best. If anyone has a problem with rule number two, they can leave. Now.”_ _

__People share glances, but no one leaves. We all know what we´re here for, we all know what´s at risk._ _

__“Good. Rule number three: You never, ever, enter the forest alone.”_ _

__“You enter the forest alone,” I observe. They shoot me a glance._ _

__“I am never alone. As you all might have noticed, I brought my friend,” they pet the dog, who contently lets her tongue hang out. “Now, she is not for hunting, she is here to protect me – to protect us. Not from whatever kills the animals – I doubt she has a chance, but she would probably try it. But apart from whatever thing lives in there, there´s all the other predators, foxes, wolves, bears, that can be a danger to us or our already killed prey. That´s why she´s here. To keep us save.”_ _

__“Isn´t – isn´t that a wolf?” The same girl from before, pointing at the huntress ‘friend’._ _

__“Yes.”_ _

__My neighbour and I share a glance._ _

__The girl starts up again: “How-“_ _

__“Do you want my life story or do you want to know how to hunt?” The huntress interrupts her._ _

__No one answers, so they continue._ _

__“Those rules exist to keep us save. I can however not guarantee, that they will keep all of us alive. But if you all follow them, the chances of all of us walking out of this forest when winter is over are higher than if you don´t.” They take a knife out, that was hidden beneath their cloak. “The other thing, that will keep you alive,” they raise their arm, “is your skills.” The knife flies out of their hand, and lands in a tree next to our row._ _

__“That´s why, today we are not going into the forest.” I can feel the relieve flood through me, and it looks like the rest of the volunteers are just as glad as I am. The huntress continues: “Neither are we for the rest of the week. None of you have tools fit for hunting, and even if you did, I doubt you´d know how to use them. I´ve spoken with the blacksmith and the carpenter. They will make what we need, and you will train to use them. Starting next week, I will take some people into the forest with me, while others train, to teach you how to hunt. Everyone will take turns, and I hope that by the end of the month, you can go hunting without me.”_ _

__Excited talking among the group._ _

__The huntress takes the word again. “So for now, this is a training camp. Today we start with what I showed you. I hope you all brought your knives.”_ _


	5. My silhouette there, at your door, you fall screaming to the floor.

_My silhouette there, at your door,  
You fall screaming to the floor ___

__For a week, we train everyday, from dusk til dawn. The huntress shows us how to throw knives, use bow and arrow, make traps, identify edible berries and roots and how to communicate by whisteling.  
After this week, all of us have at least a slight idea of how to do any of that, but none of us are good. Sure, some had a nick for archery and I was quite good at remembering how to build traps, but none of us are fit to survive in the woods. On the seventh day, the huntress comes to me while I try to tell which of the black berries they laid out on the table wouldn´t kill you if you ate them. _ _

__“You,” they say, “will come with me tomorrow.” Then they turn and shout to the group: “Everyone, gather round.” While I’m still trying to identify if being chosen as the first person to accompany the huntress into the woods made me feel proud or terrified, the other new hunters gather around us._ _

__“Tomorrow, me, the baker, and the carpenter´s child” they nod at the person opposite of her, “will go hunting in the woods. The rest of you I expect to train, while we are gone. Don´t worry,” they say, when people start murmuring and eyeing me and the carpenter´s child, “you will all get turns to come with me. We will all meet here again in the morning, you two,” they gesture at their two companions, “bring your hunting gear and a bag. And sleep well,” they says with a sly grin, before turning around and making their way down to the village, their wolf following._ _

__

__When I come home that night, my wife is making dinner. Potatoes and sauerkraut. Not exactly a luxurious last meal. I gulp. After I put up my cloak, my wife comes over to kiss me. She wants to pull away, but I hug her and bury my face in her shoulder. Will this be the last time we have dinner together?_ _

__“What´s wrong?”_ _

__I take a deep breath. No matter how terrified I am of the forest, my wife is a thousand times more scared. I pull away from her and try a confident smile._ _

__“We will go into the forest tomorrow. To hunt.”_ _

__As expected, her face falls. This past week she used to pretend I would just go train at the edge of the forest every day for the next half year, and never be in any real danger._ _

__“You don´t have to do this,” she whispers. “We will make it work. We will only eat half of dinner every day, and I will try to get some root vegetable to grow as long as it´s still warm in the garden. We can eat some of the chickens, I know they´re old, but it doesn´t matter. It´s worth it, if you don´t have to go into the for-“ I shut her up by kissing her. Her hands hold onto me as if I was dear life, and I kiss her like she was air and I was drowning. My hands push up her dress, and she backs me to table. Her weight pushes me down, and she kisses down my throat. When I try to speak, she pushes her thumb into my mouth. Her thigh is between my legs, and I feel the hotness spreading through my whole body. I push up her blouse, pulling it over her head, and she unbuttons my shirt. Where her skin touches mine, I am on fire. Her mouth on mine, her chest on my chest, her hands on my face, my neck, my back, everywhere. Is this some sort of last consumption, I ask myself, dizzy. Her hand makes its way down my belly, and I forget the question._ _

__

__After, we lie on the dining table, my head on her belly, and she strokes my hair. It´s dark outside, and the only light comes from the fire in the stove. Next to it, our dinner, cold and forgotten. I look up to her. The fire reflects in her eyes that bear an unspoken question._ _

__“I will come back to you,” I whisper, “I promise I will always come back home.”_ _


	6. My instinct to always come back home, it dooms you now, in pain to moan

_My instinct to always come back home,  
It dooms you now, in pain to moan ___

__And I do. Every time. Autumn turns to winter, and as the trees lose their leaves, we slowly lose our fear of the forest. We still respect it, and we always follow the rules, but we don´t flinch anymore every time we hear a branch break and we start to see the beauty of the forest, not just its darkness. We go hunting in groups of two or three now, sometimes I´m with the huntress, sometimes I´m with others. The animals we bring back bring us through the winter, and we can now even see the first signs of spring. Small green leaves fight their way through layers of foliage, and snowdrops grow next to the path. The sun brings warmth and with it a feeling of hope._ _

__It is a bright, but cold, sunny day when the huntress and I pair up again. By noon, our belts are filled with nothing but sacks of rose hip. We´re resting next to a little pond that has frozen over, and we contemplate going back to collect more berries or stay here, in the sun, a little longer in the hope of some bigger pray, when we see it. A beautiful young stag, big and strong, passing behind some trees. The huntress and I move at once, both firing an arrow at the stag. But our fast movements must have alarmed it, it turns and the huntress arrow, aimed at the eye, passes over it. My arrow, meant for the neck, sticks into its shoulder. It cries out, a terrible sound, and for a moment I feel bad for hurting such a beautiful creature. But then I think back to my wife and the other villagers, who’s eyes are sunken in and who haven´t had a proper meal in months._ _

__The stag sprints away, and we collect our things and follow it. We don´t run, we don´t need to. The strength of the human as a hunter is endurance, as the huntress taught us at the beginning. You don´t need to instantly kill your pray, as long as you wound it enough. You don´t need to outrun your pray, as long as you outlast it. The stag might be faster than us, but it has a wounded shoulder and it will need to rest._ _

__In it´s hurt, the stag has left an easy enough trace to follow. It´s a nice walk, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, and here and there, the first signs of spring can be seen. I bathe my face in the sun. We´ve been walking for a while, when the huntress hesitates._ _

__“I don´t like the direction it goes,” they say, their eyes darting around, “it leads us deeper into the forest, and we need to make it back before nightfall.”_ _

__I know they’re´s right. But right now, the forest doesn’t fell threatening at all. And we have the chance of some superior supper._ _

__“Let´s just walk up the next hill?”_ _

__They look worried, but then the hunger and knowledge of the villager´s hunger win._ _

__“Alright.” With that, they strut onwards, at a faster pace now. I follow them._ _

__

__The hill is steep, and higher than I expected. But I can see the forest getting lighter, so we should reach the top, and hopefully the stag, soon. I´m out of breath when I run into the huntress, who seems to be frozen in place at the top of the hill. It´s a little platform, and the stag is laying right where the platform seems to fall off into a cliff, because I can see the sky and the sun shining at it from behind. In the distance is the forest, leading to the mountains. It´s a beautiful, tragic sight. I reach for my knife, when the huntress grabs my arm._ _

__“We need to leave. Now.”_ _

__“What? No!”_ _

__“You don´t understand.” They’re right, I don´t. I try to wrestle my arms free, and they take both my shoulders and forces me to look at them. “This place. It isn’t safe. We need to leave. Right now.”_ _

__“Why? The stag is right there, we just need to kill it and take it ba-“_ _

__“This is the place I lost the tracks of my mother” they interrupt me._ _

__“Your mother?” I blink. The I realise. “The old huntress.”_ _

__They nod. “After she vanished, I traced her tracks. Until here. Here they just” they swallow. “vanished.”_ _

__We both look at the cliff that falls off behind the stag._ _

__“Look,” I say “I´m sorry about your mother. I really am. But we are not alone.” I take their head between my hands. “We have each other. And we have an entire village to feed. And this stag might be the only opportunity we have for a while. So let´s just take the stag and leave. Alright?”_ _

__They close their eyes. I can see them wrestling with themselves. Then they opens their eyes. “Fine. But we need to hurry.” They breaks free from my grasp and approach the stag. My arrow must have hit a major artery, because the stag was weak from blood loss. It can´t even lift his head when the huntress leans down to cut it´s throat. With a sigh, it´s last breath leaves it. We bind the legs together with string, and the huntress walks to the trees to get a branch so we can carry it. I tie up everything we brought with us so we can all put it on the branch, when I notice the little flower at the edge of the cliff. It´s yellow, and the first flower I´ve seen since the snow drops. It´s beautiful. My wife would love this. I walk towards it, and when I bow to pick it, I see how deep the cliff falls off. It´s a steep wall of stone, very smooth, and at the bottom is a little meadow full of those little yellow flowers, before the forest starts again. I pick the flower and turn around when I slip. I fall backwards, my hands grasping uselessly for something to hold onto. I can see the huntress dropping the branch, starting to sprint towards me. I reach for them, but of course, it´s useless. I fall, down the cliff, the flower still in my hand. When I hit the ground, everything goes black._ _

__

__My head hurts. Actually, everything hurts. I try to open my eyes. Everything is blurry. I´m dizzy. Slowly, I regain my focus. Directly above me, I can see the sky. Next to me, a cliff. On the cliff, I can see someone moving, waving. I hear someone screaming. My name. That´s my name. Someone is screaming my name. The huntress. The huntress is screaming my name. The cliff. I fell of the cliff. I fell of the cliff when I was picking the flower for my wife. The flower. I raise my right hand. I´m still holding it. The huntress is still screaming. What are they saying? I don´t understand much besides my name. Can I move? I raise my right arm again. I raise my left arm. The hand is sat in a weird angle. I try to move the fingers and feel a sharp pain. I try to raise my head, but it feels as if it weighed a hundred tons.  
The huntress stopped screaming when they saw me moving my arms, but now they’re shouting something again. Can I stand? I can´t lift my head, but maybe I can roll to the side. I try to move my leg. Nothing happens. That´s not good. I try to move the other leg. Again, nothing. Also, not good. I try to lift my head again, this time I use my hands to help. I can move it so that I can look down my body. I don´t see much wrong. My legs are still attached, and there isn´t too much blood. My left leg seems to be broken though, there is a bend in the tight that normally shouldn’t be there, but at least it doesn’t hurt. I`m rested on my elbows now. I shift my weight to my left side, which hurts my arm, and use the right arm to touch my legs. My fingers touch my skin through a gap in the pants, and I can feel the smooth skin of my tight. I don’t feel my fingers touching it though. Oh no. This is not only not good, this is bad. I pinch myself, and I don´t feel it. In my desperation, I grab my knife from my belt and hold it to the tight. I don´t feel the cold metal, and I don´t feel the stinging pain when I cut through my skin. Blood now stains my pants. I fall back into the gras. _ _

__The huntress has watched me and realised what´s happened. They know what they need to do, but I appreciate them pretending there to be other options. I open my mouth. The first thing to come out is a groan. And blood. This entire situation was not getting better._ _

__“Go,” I whisper. I doubt my voice reaches the top of the cliff, but the huntress shakes their head. They have to know that they have to leave now to get out of the forest before sundown, and they have to know that there´s no way getting me back to the village._ _

__Suddenly I feel very tired. This isn´t a bad place to die, I think. The gras is soft beneath my body, there are flowers growing around me. The slowly sinking sun bathes everything in a warm light._ _

__My vision is getting blurry again. I cast my eyes up to the huntress. With my last strength, I raise my arm that holds the flower. Our eyes lock, and she nods. I drop my arm. My entire body is feeling very heavy. The huntress is crying. Their tears reflect the sunlight that is shining directly into their face. They open their mouth, but instead of a goodbye, a song comes out. It´s a children´s song, a lullaby. My wife sings it to me, sometimes. I start crying too. I close my eyes. In my head, the voice of the huntress mixes with the voice of my wife. We lie in bed together. We are both very old, but she is still beautiful. She strokes my hair while she sings. Her body warms mine. “I´m sorry,” I say, “I´m sorry I didn´t come back home.” She smiles. I fall asleep._ _


	7. My name, I do remember it, you scream it between crying fits.

_My name, I do remember it,  
You scream it between crying fits ___

__I am woken up by a stinging pain in my neck. It´s worse than everything I´ve ever felt before, which, given that I´ve fallen off a cliff a few hours ago, says something. I want to scream, but I can´t open my mouth. My eyes can only see the moon above me. There´s a weight on my body, I can´t move. The pain washes through my body, setting it aflame. I want to black out, but I can´t. The pain in my head makes it feel like I´m about to explode. Suddenly, the pain in my neck vanishes. So does the weight on my upper body. I gasp for air, crying. It brings no relief, quite the opposite. Although I didn´t think it could be possible, the pain in my body gets worse. It feels like my blood vessels are filled with lava. I scream into the night. I cry. I can´t think of anything but the pain. I lose track of time. How long have I been like this? A minute? An hour? A year? I cannot tell. After an eternity, I see the stars fading. The sky above the cliff is turning from black to blue to grey. The pain in my body is still there, but it´s dim, like I´m wrapped in cotton. I feel numb. And tired. I fall asleep again._ _

__When I wake up again, it feels like my skin is on fire. I open my eyes and stare into the sun, which feels like it’s burning out my eyes, so I close them again. I need to get out of the sun, I think, and roll to the side. I crawl to the cliff, where the stone wall still gives some shade. My arms pull my body and every movement feels like it takes all my strength and every meter feels like a million. But I make it._ _

__My body is numb at in pain at the same time, I can´t feel anything else. I lie on my side, watching the edge of the shade and with it the painful sunlight creep closer and closer. I can´t stay here, I think, exhausted. But where should I go? I can´t move my legs. The sun gets closer and closer, until it touches my toes. The pain is excruciating. My shade is disappearing and soon I will feel like I´m being burned alive. I get up on my elbows again, and I crawl the length of the cliff. The sun has reached my calves now and I’m seriously thinking about just giving up and hoping that I will die fast. Then I see it. A gap in the cliff. I gather what´s left of my strength and pull myself towards it. It´s small, but big enough for me to push through. Behind there´s a small cave. I collapse to the floor._ _

__

__I don´t know for how long I´ve slept, but when I wake up, the pain is gone. I just lie on the ground, revelling in the feeling of not being in pain. I stare at the cave ceiling, feeling the cold stone ground below me. It´s dark outside, the sun had just had to gone down and the moon isn’t up yet. The cold night air feels like a fountain of youth, and I can think clearly again. If I wasn´t so thirsty. It must have been over a day now, since I fell of the cliff, and even longer since I last had something to eat or drink. But it was a miracle that I even made it into that cave, how I would get water I do not know. Will they come looking for me? Or will the huntress tell them that I´m dead? I´m sure my wife will not give up on me. My wife. The thought of her breaks my heart. I broke my promise. Will she understand? Will she forgive me?_ _

__I´m so thirsty. If I could just crawl to a stream, a puddle, something. But I don´t know this area of the forest. Water could be minute away as well as a day. Crawling out there and risking meeting whatever lives in that forest? Or just risking staying out until the sun comes up? It´s out of the question. But I also can´t do nothing.  
I decide to take inventory of my body. Nothing hurts. That’s good. I can lift my head. I can lift my arms. My left hand looks better than yesterday, wasn’t it broken? Maybe I just imagined that. I push myself up on my elbows and look at my legs. I wiggle my toes. Wait. I wiggle my toes again. I wiggle my feet. Slowly, I sit up. I bend my knees. Impossible. Carefully, I stand up. I make a few steps. Did I just imagine everything? Did I not fall of the cliff? Did the huntress and I spend the night in the forest, for whatever reason? But I´m pretty sure I fell off the cliff. I remember seeing them, high above me. I remember … dying? That can´t be right. I must have hit my head pretty hard. But I can walk! And I feel amazing. Except for the thirst. I´ll find water. And then I´ll go home, to my wife._ _


	8. It has no power over me, is this what I was meant to be?

_It has no power over me  
Is this what I was meant to be? ___

__I leave the cave. I am careful, my bow at the ready. I haven´t forgotten what the huntress told me, how their mother vanished here. You are braking rule number one, the huntress voice whispers in my head. Don´t be in the forest at night. But I can´t stay in this cave any longer. My throat is killing me, and I need to go home._ _

__The mood has risen, spending little light, but I can see just fine. Just, how do I get up that cliff? It doesn´t seem to end in either direction. But the cliff isn´t as smooth as I originally thought, there’s cracks and ledges. Am I crazy? I fell of this cliff. But the thought of my wife gives me strength. And the thirst. I would kill for a cup of water right now. I reach for a crack and place my foot on a ledge. Climbing is as easy as walking, I reach the top within a minute. I don´t even feel exhausted, quite the opposite._ _

__On the top, I see the dead stag. Its blood has clotted, and flies and maggots swarm the body. The smell is so bad, I feel like puking. Instead, I make my way past it, to the forest. I run down the hill, back to the parts of the forest I know. I hope I´m going in the right direction.  
When the huntress was with me, during daylight, the forest seemed friendly, now in the dark, the trees seem bigger and more sinister. But what creeps me out the most is that I don´t hear anything but the rustling of the wind in the trees. There are no sounds of animals. I feel alone. There is a reason why we shouldn´t be in the forest during night. I grab my bow harder, an arrow knocked in. Sometimes, through the trees, I can see the moon on her path. She has passed her highest point, when I finally find myself in the parts of the forest that I know. It probably isn´t less dangerous here, but I still feel safer, knowing where I am. Knowing that at least your body will be found, a voice whispers in my head. I shake it off. I can´t let my guard down. But I am nearly home. Just a few more hours. _ _

__Although I didn´t think it was possible, every hour the thirst grows, to a point where it´s nearly all I can think about. I get dizzy, and I stagger more than I walk. Once, I nearly fall, but manage to catch myself. I try to think of my wife. I have to get home to her._ _

__I barely recognize the edge of the forest when I see it, finally. With the wind from the meadow comes a smell, so delicious, it makes me cry out in pain. I pick up my speed as I pass the last trees, the stream, the meadow. I can see our house. There is still light on, while all the other houses are dark. Wake, the part of my brain that still thinks about something other than this excruciating thirst, supplies. I don´t care. My throat. My wife. As I pass the gates of the village, the smell divides into many different smells, all making my throat hurt. But I follow the most delicious one, it leads to my house. The animals are oddly quiet, some part of me thinks, as I step into our garden. The garden door gives a shriek, and inside the house I see movement. All my restrains fails, and I bolt for the door. It is locked, I barely register, as I rip it open. A wave of that delicious smell hits me and nearly brings me to my knees. Then I see her. She is wearing her white nightgown, and her eyes look like she has been crying for days. She sees me, too, and I see in her face the disbelief, the relief, and then, when I step into the light of the kitchen, the horror.  
When my body rushes to her side, my mind stays at the door. So I see myself grabbing her, pulling her towards me. Sinking my teeth into her flesh. _ _

_I will stand at your grave and cry,  
Forever there, I cannot die ___


	9. I will stand at your grave and cry, forever there, I can not die.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,  
I am not there, I do not sleep.

You hear the howling winds that blow?  
I am the monster from below.  
I am the hunter during night,  
It does not help to leave on the light.

Like a shadow in the dark,  
Your dogs are too afraid to bark.  
My silhouette there, at your door,  
You fall screaming to the floor.

My instinct to always come back home,  
It dooms you now, in pain to moan  
My name, I do remember it,  
You scream it between crying fits.

It has no power over me  
Is this what I was meant to be?

I will stand at your grave and cry,  
Forever there, I can not die.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so english is not my first language so if i make mistakes pls forgive me and tell me !  
> anyway i hope you like this, it´s also my first original work i guess, i've inly ever written fanfic before.  
> The chapters will get longer!


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